Beyond Connor Hellebuyck, what’s the secret to the Jets’ success?

Somehow, the Winnipeg Jets continue to roll on through the season.

With just over a month remaining until the NHL Trade Deadline, the team from the heart of Manitoba continues to pace the rest of the league. They sit first in the NHL, a fact that has been true for the majority of the season, two points ahead of the Eastern Conference leaders, the Washington Capitals.

What has been the formula for the Jets’ success?

The easy answer is the man between the pipes. Connor Hellebuyck’s play for Winnipeg is not only keeping the team in first place, but it’s also making him the runaway favorite to win another Vezina Trophy. However, he’s not the only person on the roster making considerable contributions.

Along with a deep scoring output, which has five players having over 45 points thus far, Winnipeg’s defense has done an excellent job at helping their star goaltender when possible, especially since Hellebuyck is one of the bigger workhorses in the NHL.

On Thursday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Jon Goyens joins Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk to explain who else is part of the Jets’ victorious ways this season.

Jon Goyens: It’d be an easy job to just do a whole thing on Connor Hellebuyck, but the reality is they’re reducing the amount of opportunities in the slot. Slot defending comes in various ways versus rush, forecheck, attempts, and passes from the slot, and they’re near the top tier in all these categories. So, that’s not take anything away from Hellebuyck’s job. It just means how dialed in and how consistent they are. When you do that, it fuels their offense. Because offensively, even though they’re No. 1 in most categories, they are not the most firewagon type of team. They’ve become a really consistent team that scores in a variety of ways…they do it with fundamental defense…and that fundamental defense leads to several highlight-reel goals.

You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…